Date: September 24, 2012
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This school year, Massachusetts is participating for the first time in the U.S. Department of Education’s Green Ribbon Schools award program, which recognizes K-12 schools that excel at reducing environmental impact and costs, improving health and wellness, and providing effective environmental and sustainability education.

Find out how your school(s) can apply to be among those nominated by the Commonwealth for this national recognition by registering for this webinar.

Did you know that over 40 percent of the GHG emissions in the U.S. can be attributed to the life-cycle impacts associated with the manufacture, distribution, sale, use and disposal of the goods and food we consume? Are you interested in identifying strategies for creating more sustainable patterns of consumption? If so, please join us for EPA’s Materials Management through Sustainable Consumption Webinar Series starting on Wednesday, October 10th, 2012 at 9:30am PT/12:30pm PT! Participation is free so sign up! To register for the series, click here https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/469476793. Please forward this invitation to others who may be interested in participating.

EPA’s Materials Management through Sustainable Consumption Webinar Series is designed to provide examples of communities around the US and internationally that are reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and creating more sustainable patterns of consumption. This webinar series focuses on helping regulators and environmental management experts share information about existing research, programs and practices. It also shares perspectives from citizens and businesses. This information supports communities seeking to reduce their GHG emissions, wastes and other environmental impacts through a focus on sustainable consumption, including source reduction. Source reduction minimizes the quantity and toxicity of materials that later need to be disposed of, and is identified under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) as a key strategy for achieving our long-term environmental goals. Source reduction also helps to reduce GHG emissions, which are regulated pollutants under the Clean Air Act. This series is in follow-up to last year’s Consumption and the Environment Webinar Series. For our webinars we invite guest speakers to share their views on sustainable consumption to get participants thinking and talking about new strategies for achieving our environmental goals. Please note the opinions, ideas or data presented by non-EPA speakers in this series do not represent EPA policy or constitute endorsement by EPA.

In October, we will kick off the series discussing the key challenges and opportunities for sustainable consumption, nationally and internationally. Speakers David Allaway, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality and Duke Castle, Natural Step and Castle Group will will explore the barriers to sustainable consumption and the multiple links between climate change and economic growth. For more information and specific session descriptions, please visit EPA’s website through the following link http://bit.ly/sustainableconsumption.

The EcoChallenge is an opportunity to change your life for good. For two weeks, October 1-15, we challenge you to change one habit for Earth. You choose your challenge, we connect you with other EcoChallengers, and collectively we prove that small actions create real change.

3. Decide whether you’re going to take on the Challenge individually or as part of a team

To start your own team, select “start a team,” and we’ll help you invite friends and coworkers to join.

To join an existing team, select “join a team”.

To participate individually and raise pledges to support NWEI’s sustainability eduction programs, select “participate as an EcoChallenge Fundraiser,” and set your fundraising goal. Remember: everyone who raises at least $50 is entered into the EcoChallenge raffle!

To participate individually without raising pledges, select “join a team” and join the “NWEI Community Team”.

4. Create your EcoChallenge profile page. You can start your page during the registration process and Log In at any time to add or edit.

5. Share your challenge with friends and family—and while you’re at it, invite them to take the EcoChallenge, too!

6. On October 1st, start working toward your challenge goals and Check In on the website daily to log your progress. Connect with other EcoChallengers online and share your progress on your personal EcoChallenge blog.

Whether the EcoChallenge is your first step toward a lower impact lifestyle, or you’ve been around the environmental block many times, we invite you to Challenge yourself this October 1 – 15. Register today, and join a growing community of people who are taking action on behalf of the planet!

You don’t have to be a farmer to keep chickens. Terry Golson has more than sixteen years of experience keeping a small flock of laying hens in her backyard that supply eggs for her family’s table. In this slideshow and lecture, Terry will share everything you need to know to get started with your own chickens. She’ll cover selecting the right breeds, housing, feed, and how to keep the hens healthy. Terry will talk about chicken behavior, predators, and daily chores. She’ll show you how she composts the manure and makes use of it in her garden. Terry speaks and writes frequently on this topic. You can find out more about her and her hens at www.HenCam.com.

October 4, 12:00-1:00pm at the Lincoln Filene Center, Rabb Room, Tufts University

Join Leith Sharp, Chair of the Sustainability Futures Academy and Professor, Harvard University, for a dynamic discussion of this question.

Learn the fundamentals of becoming a successful change agent for sustainability in any organization, business or group. Ms. Sharp will introduce participants to the art of catalyzing wide scale change in the behaviors and practices of large organizations, encouraging them to reduce their environmental impact. As she presents the major concepts and the role of the individual in bringing the new green economy to fruition, Ms. Sharp will use her many years of experience greening Harvard University as her primary case study.